I miss you guys already!

One of my most very best friends, Rebecca, came to visit yesterday and stayed until today. We have been through a lot together through the years. Within the past couple of years she and her husband have adopted 3 children, 1 from China and 2 from Ethiopia (they already have 3 grown boys between them). She brought her 3 little girls. My boys had so much fun playing with them. They all got along so well and I think they really had a lot of fun. I hope they did! I miss you guys and can't wait to visit you all in a couple of months. Love you!

Do we LOVE to camp, or what....!

We went camping over Memorial Day weekend. We had actually planned to camp close to home at Arrow Rock. It's this quaint, artsy little town about 10 miles from us. But, we found out that Greg's family was having an 89th birthday party for his dad that weekend. So, we packed up the pop-up and camped in Marysville, KS. It was really nice and free.... the best kind!! lol Here are some pictures of our fun.

Michael also made his own fishing pole using a stick and some string. He was so proud of it. He was our own little Tom Sawyer.

The best part of camping for me is Greg does ALL the cooking. Wahoo! I love to cook but he's so great at grilling and there is NOTHING like eating food off an open fire.

Memories

One of the things we did while my relatives were here from Tennessee was to do some sight-seeing. And a couple of the places we went to see were the houses that we all spent most of our time. The first one is in Raytown where we first lived after I was born. We lived there 5 years and then moved to Lee's Summit right before I started Kindergarten. The second house is where I grew up and spent most of my childhood.

There are a lot of wonderful memories associated with those two houses. They both have changed a bit. Some trees aren't there anymore or garages have been made into additional rooms. And the neighborhoods aren't full of childhood friends and classmates. They've all grown up now. But it's surprising how much things still look the same and how just seeing a place can bring back such vivid happy memories that have been tucked away for years.

Summer is finally here!

Well, the boys are out of school and ready for the summer. They had a nice awards & graduation ceremony last week. Michael will now be in 3rd grade and Vince will be in 1st. I can't believe they're growing up so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was changing their diapers! Thank goodness THAT'S over with! HAHA!

Great day for flying a kite...

I don't have to explain these pictures too much. Michael got a kite from school at their little school store they put together and while we were up at mom & dad's last week, he took it out for a test run. He actually did pretty good.

Another one graduated...

Ok, so I'm a little behind on my posts. It's been a busy month!

Jodie, my sister's middle girl, graduated from Pleasant Hill a couple of weeks ago. She was so excited. My sister had a party for her at their house on the Sat. following graduation. They have a great place out in the country full of animals and wildlife. We also had my uncle and some of our cousins come in from Tennessee. We all had a great time!!

That's where I get it...

This is such a funny story I just had to post it. Of course, mom & dad will probably be mad at me. But it's Ok - it's too hysterical not to share.

Ok, here's the setup... My middle niece is graduating from H.S. this Thursday. She really wanted our relatives (as many as could make it) to come out from Tennessee. So, arrangements were made and my Uncle Clarence (dad's brother), one of his sons, Larry, and his wife, Larry's daughter and her 2 year old boy (which I've never seen) planned to make a trip out to Lee's Summit on Wednesday, today.

Well, I called mom yesterday to see when to be at their house tomorrow in order to ride with them to the graduation ceremony. Mom said it had been a merry-go-round day. I guess my uncle had called them earlier in the day to say they weren't making the trip out. Mom & dad called Larry (my uncle's son) to talk to him and he said he was sick and had a really bad sinus infection. So, they got off the phone, called Clarence, my uncle, and told him they were going to come out and pick him up. OK, remember...it's not just across town or a couple of hours away...it's IN TENNESSEE!!! haha! Mom & dad jumped in the shower, got cleaned up, packed and were just about ready to walk out the door when Larry called and said they were coming afterall. ha! How funny! I have this picture in my head of my parents running around trying to get everything ready.

And to top it all off, mom & dad made 2 trips to the grocery store yesterday. The first time was after they thought the Tennessee folk weren't coming so they didn't get all the things they had planned on getting. Then, when they found out the trip was still on, they turned around and headed back to the store to get the rest of the items on the list. haha! When mom told me this and I was cracking up so hard I could barely steer the car. LOL What can I say, my family is close and when my dad's get something in his head, well, there's no getting it out. That's where I get it from. Needless to say, they were exhausted last night...haha!

So, net/net the relatives are still coming and should be here sometime today. Not sure how good Larry will feel if he's been nursing a sinus infection but mom's a nurse and I'm sure she'll be able to get in feeling better in no time. I love my family!!

His first big reading

My pictures didn't turn out. They never do when I take them in our church...something about the lighting. But I was such a proud mom so I have to post the story anyway. Our kids, for those of you who don't know, go to Catholic School. So, once or twice a week, they attend mass. Well, the second graders, Michael's class, has been leading the mass a lot this year since they've all been preparing for their first communion.

Michael has struggled with reading. It has been a big frustration for me because, first of all, I hate to see him struggle. And secondly, I am such an avid reader. I love to read and read a lot. Therefore, I have a hard time understanding why Michael hasn't picked up on the joy of reading. Well, he's gotten better and is in a reading program where he has made tremendous progress this year. He's about up to speed.

So far this year, all he would read at mass was the songs that were on the list to sing or the prayers (basically one sentence...which can be memorized pretty easily). Well, I told him a few months ago that before the end of the school year I wanted him to be able to do some sort of larger reading. And he did it! Greg & I went to mass last week (actually on our anniversary) and Michael read the introduction (several sentences). I was so proud of him. I just wanted to stand up and start clapping. Am I a sappy mom or what.

Anniversary celebration

Ok, this is a little out of sequence. I've been terribly busy lately, OK.

A friend of ours got several of us tickets to go see Larry the Cable Guy. Turns out, the show was on Greg & my 10 year wedding anniversary, May 1. We all went to Olive Garden for dinner and then on to the show. And then some of us stopped by Tropical Liquers (GREAT place!!) afterwards for fruity drinks...STRONG fruity drinks. It was great fun and Larry the Cable Guy is HILARIOUS!! I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. Sorry, the pictures aren't very good.

My sweet little boy...

Times like this makes being a mother so special. Greg took the boys to the greenhouse the other night to get some strawberries to plant and Michael came back with a present for me. It was totally his idea and he wanted to get it "just because". It was so sweet and made me feel so good. Both my boys are such sweet & caring little men. I know just where they get it from, too.....right honey...;)

Another family soon to come...

We're about to have another family of geese at our family. It's quite an adventure going over to see them. The male goose is the distraction and is always the lookout. So, everytime we go over to check out the momma and her eyes, we have to carry a big stick because the male will fly at you to try and scare you away. They let us get pretty close but they didn't like it. They were pretty noisey...ha! But, we didn't stay long.

Vacation trip....well deserved and NEEDED!

Since my last post, we've had soccer games/practices 3-4 times a week and had to make plans for a week trip to Big Cedar to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary. During that time, Vince came down with the flu and was out of school for a week. Poor little guy. He was so sick. And, the rest of us came out unscathed, thank goodness. Here are some pics of our trip to Big Cedar where we had Big Fun!!

I'm back....

I'm sorry I've been away for so long. For those of you that read this stuff.... thank you, and I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in a couple of weeks. We've been so busy around here and Greg and I went out of town for our 10 year anniversary a week ago. (I'll post pictures this week.) And we've been on a dead run ever since we got back into town. Looks like this next week is going to be just as busy. BUT, that's good, because it's with my real estate business and our rock business SOOOO....I can't complain too much about that.

I will post pics and info soon, I promise. Thank you to all that keep up with my blog. It means a lot to know that someone is interested in your life. I know I'm interested in a lot of yours! See you soon!

XXOO